§ MR. A. C. MORTON (Peterborough)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade in view of the fact that there are in and out of this country 1,339,062 old and new patents up to 1st January 1894, can he state whether there are abstract indexes of all these patents, complete and fully classified, available to the public to consult in London, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow, Dublin, or other large business centres; and whether, short of a costly trial at law, any English patent under our present system of issue is definitely known to be valid and free from old matter from one or more of the foregoing patents?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. J. BRYCE, Aberdeen, S.)Printed weekly and annual indexes of all British patents are regularly supplied to libraries in the cities referred to by the hon. Member, and also to 31 other business centres. It is well known that the grant of a patent carries with it no guarantee of validity.
§ MR. A. C. MORTONI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the all-round average lifetime of patents in this country for the year 1892 was only about four years ton months and two weeks; whether he will state what it was for the years 1893 and 1894 respectively, together with the number of patents voided for each year; and whether he will forewarn, or safeguard, the public from taking out patents, under the belief that all patents live 14 years, by instructing patent agents acting in connection with the Patent Office to state spicuously, yearly, on all their advertisements, books, or other publications, what the all-round average lifetime of patents has been for the preceding year?
§ MR. J. BRYCEI am aware that the average lifetime of a patent in this country is about five years. In 1893 and 1894 it was about four years and eight months. The number of patents which lapsed in 1893 was 9,302; and in 1894, 9,925. The Board have no power to instruct members of the profession of 1619 patent agents to make any statement on the subject. I believe that, as a rule, inventors are aware that the life of a patent depends on the payment of renewal fees. There is a statement to this effect on every patent issued.
§ MR. JOHN BURNSArising out of that question, I would like to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether, considering the way in which Members of Parliament are badgered by patentees, and the advantage that would accrue from publicity being given to the answer he has made to the hon. Member's question, he will consider the advisability of publishing it in The Labour Gazette and The Board of Trade Journal?
§ MR. J. BRYCEI thought the points were perfectly well understood, but I will consider the suggestion of my hon. Friend.